Spelling Superbowl

A few weeks ago, Rowan came home and let me know he qualified from a class competition to be in the school spelling bee.  I had never been in a spelling bee, but I thought they looked fun.  A while back I had a friend who told her daughter that she would give her an American Girl doll if she placed in our annual schoolwide race.  She hated to run and didn't want to participate.  With the motivation to get a AG doll, she went on to get second place.  My friend was stunned.  I told this story to Rowan and then told him that if he placed in the top three, I told him I would get him a 3ds game or two.  He studied every night with me and above all I was so proud to see him be diligent about a goal.

The day of the spelling bee came and Rowan was a bit nervous.  We encouraged him to do his best.  He competed with 27 other top spellers in our school, including the upper grades.  I was hopeful that he would be the last fourth grader standing.

 Getting prepped while the students got situated in the audience.

Sage was a trooper.  It took about 2 hours from start to finish.  Elsa, thankfully, was at preschool.  I don't think she would have been as patient.

I took a video of each round he participated in.  Here they are in order.  The sound isn't that great, but I had to be in the back so it is what it is.



















They went back and forth between the two of them for quite a while.  They had to get two words correct in a row before they could be done.  I was on pins and needles the whole time.




By then end, I was texting Steve, "top 5!", "top 3!!!", "top 2!!!"  It was insane and so fun.  I'm not a sports person, but I imagine that's what sports fans feel like at the close of a tight game.  
Needless to say, there's a trip to Gamestop in order.  I'm so proud of Rowan for studying words that I can't even pronounce day after day.

Next he gets to go to the state level I think.  There's another one at UVU in March.

Provo CIty Center Temple

Yesterday, our whole family had the opportunity to go through the Provo City Center Open House.  No one in our family has gone through a temple open house before, so it was a first for us all.  We are so blessed in live in the one city in the world that has two temples.

It was a little hectic.  We had dentist appointments right before, but luckily we all made our way out of there with flying colors.  No cavities and Elsa handled her first dental experience like a champ.  Rowan even got x-rays for the first time.  He has a really bad gag reflux and hasn't been able to get them done before.  Apparently, Nadia's front tooth that has been missing since she was 18 months is finally growing in too!  We're all excited to see her with a full mouth of smiling teeth again.

Since you aren't allowed to take pictures of the interior, we only have a couple pictures.  This first picture is prior to watching a movie about the temple's purpose.  Elsa was rather enraged that she had to wear white covers on her pretty shoes.  A nice lady behind us noticed the commotion and patted Steve to tell him she heard that some ushers will let little kids go through without wearing them.  Steve replied that if she learns to listen now, perhaps she'll be able to come back to the temple someday.

Once we put covers on Sage's shoes, Elsa seemed to settle down.  A bit.  I ended up carrying her throughout the tour and if you've seen the stairs in that temple, you can appreciate the effort that took.

After the video, we proceeded to the tour.  The experience made me miss living in the historic part of Champaign, Illinois.  They really made an effort to stay true to the workmanship of the original building.  The woodwork in the furniture and the walls were exceptional.  I was amazed that even the interior part of the door hinges had decorative elements.  Nadia loved the murals of wildlife in the endowment rooms.  She was very excited to point out all the wolves and the moon.  It was small, but incredibly beautiful.  I look forward to going back. 

 I love both of their poses here.  It captures their personalities.

 At the end of the tour, we were allowed to take a picture by the exit.  If the exit is this beautiful, you can imagine the rest!

Nadia was really struck by the displays they had downstairs where they showed original elements of the tabernacle and how they tried to keep them consistent in the design of the temple.  She especially liked the contrast between the old burnt post and the new one.

 I'm glad we made the effort to take our family and I hope it's a memory that stays with our kids.  As we were exiting the grounds, we decided to do one last pose and it turned out to be my favorite.

You know how some people post pictures of their pinterest fails?  This is a picture of my family fail.  It happens on a daily basis.  But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Afterwards we went to Los Hermanos and Sage discovered a love for salsa and knocking over drinks in restaurants.  Our waiter didn't like us much.  

Beautiful in Blue

I was at Costco the other day and they had the exact same dress in all of my girls' sizes, something I've never found before.  We snatched them up and now it's gotten to be a habit.  I found another company that sells identical dresses.  There goes the budget.

It was fortuitous that I bought them on the day I did.  Nadia came home from school in tears because some difficulties we've been having at school.  Her original teacher got married a few weeks into the school year, went on a month long honeymoon, came back for 2 days and then quit.  Since then we've had a slew of substitutes and a little girl struggling with all the transitions.  Her latest substitute forgot to bring a treasure box for those who did their homework and kept the rules through the course of the week.  It was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for both her and me.  Anyways, we ended up having a dance party when we got home to help cheer her up.

Before the dance party started, Elsa excitedly ran to get the dresses and show them to Nadia since she was with me when we bought them.  This conversation ensued:

Elsa:  Nadia, look what we got!

Nadia:  (looks up from her book)  When will anyone understand that I'm not into fashion!

Me:  Umm, Nadia you are drawing costumes for animals right now.

Nadia:  Well, I like animals and so I'm into animal fashion, not that stuff.

So looking forward to puberty...

Hot and Cold

I turned 34 this month.  Yippee.  Steve was kind enough to let me pamper myself over the course of a few days.  I had my nails done, got a new camera, got a haircut, and did a few other things sans kids.  On my actual birthday, Steve made beef and broccoli topped off with candy cane brownies.  The kids helped him cook/bake and then we attempted to light 34 sparklers that we had left over from New Year's Eve.  It is kind of sad that I am now so old it is impossible to have all the candles lit at the same time.  It probably took us a good ten minutes to get to them all. 

A professional food photographer I am not, but it tasted pretty darn good.

We needed about 10 more people with lighters.  The windows actually had to be open so the smoke alarm didn't go off.

While Steve and I were attempting to almost burn our house down, Elsa decided to come down with a nasty cold/fever that we are still trying to rid our family of.  At first I thought she was just overtired, but when I felt her it was clear it was more serious than sleep deprivation.  It was pretty scary as she had a fever for 6 days and I could only get her to drink by squirting water in a large syringe down her throat.  Not the best birthday present.  Thankfully, she is doing better now.

A few days later, I got Sage's Canadian citizenship certificate in the mail and I found a Canadian vanilla ice cream that reminded me of Bluebell, a brand from the South that I sorely miss.  Thankfully the universe tends to offset bad experiences with good.

You remind me of the babe...

A day after David Bowie passed away, Sage decided to pay tribute with her morning bed head.

I'm going to have to have the kids watch Labyrinth so they know who he actually is.

Do you wanna kill a snowman?

Like good people, we went to stake conference.  The most impressive thing about the experience was that we started getting ready at 9:40 because of a late night the day before and were at church by 10:00.  We must be getting better at this 4 kids thing.  After we got home, the kids apparently needed to unload some pent up energy/frustrations and said as soon as they stepped out of the van "Let's go kill the snowman!!"  And so they did.

 Sitting for two hours did wonders for their violent tendencies.

Sage was just excited that it was nice enough to run in the grass for a bit.  We've had so much snow this winter!

The Last Derby

Time is flying.  Rowan had his last Pinewood Derby this month and it was also Steve's last one as a Cubmaster in our ward (he got switched to 11 year scouts).  Part of me is sad that Rowan is growing up, but I'm not too torn up about this being our last Derby.  It's a little stressful helping get everything together and hard to see disappointment if things don't go well.

Thankfully, Rowan did very well this year and we didn't have to deal with the aftermath of a sad boy.  His Captain Literally (a character from Studio C) car won second place.  He was bested by a watermelon slice car.  He was really happy, but also a little wistful as he was so close to coming out on top.  Especially with it being his last race.  But it was a good experience and all the boys had fun.  Steve is good at entertaining both the boys and the adults at the same time.

 Rowan, if you ever complain about how I never took any good pictures of you, please know that these facial expressions of yours are intentional and out of my control.  Trying to get you to just stay in the frame is next to impossible.  I swear half of the pictures I take include a blur of Rowan leaping to get out of the shot.

Oh vey.

 Captain Literally is literally second best!